Simon Cowell: I considered Whitney Houston for 'The X Factor'

Simon Cowell told Piers Morgan on Saturday that Whitney Houston was one of the artists he was considering for The X Factor’s second season reboot.

Cowell called Morgan’s CNN show Saturday to talk about Houston’s tragic passing when he confirmed that he was indeed considering the “How Will I Know” singer as a potential mentor for the Fox series that recently dropped Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and host Steve Jones. He was set to have a meeting about Houston on Monday.

Last week, Cowell talked to Extra about replacing the judges and shot down rumors involving Beyonce (“I have no clue where that came from”) as well as Madonna and Mariah Carey. He also talked about the pros – and cons – of choosing an A-lister to serve as a judge. “Firstly, they are incredibly expensive – that is millions you lose on something else. Secondly, they have to make the time commitment and on my show, they have to work five days a week. Thirdly, they have to be interesting … I’m not playing this game where we have to compete on the level of A-lister stars … you can lose focus on what the show is all about, and at the end of the day the most important thing is the contestants.”